1699. The Shittim Wood

The Shittim Wood

"And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon; of shittim wood shalt thou make it" (Exo_30:1).

The wood of which the Altar is made, signifies that Christ was God manifest in flesh. It is most helpful for us to consider that our Lord Jesus Christ, exalted to the right hand of the Father as our Great High Priest, was the One who came down to this earth and was made flesh. Let us see what this means.

1. There is a Man in the Glory. Of course, the One in Glory is very God, yet He was once down here among men. His "being found in fashion as a man" (Php_2:8), and His dwelling among men, made it possible for Him to become, in Heaven, our sympathetic High Priest. If the dew of sorrow is upon our brow, it was once on His. He is the Good Shepherd who goeth before His sheep. He once traveled the same pathway which we are now traveling. He knew what it was to be weary and to sit "thus" at Jacob's well. He knew what it was to be hungry and to need food. He knew what it was to suffer, to be maligned, to be misunderstood; in fact the Lord Jesus was tested in all points like as we are, apart from sin.

2. There is a Man in Glory with wound marks. When Jesus Christ ascended up on high, He carried with Him the print of the nails. After His resurrection, He displayed them to Thomas. What do these wound marks mean? They tell us that there is One at God's right hand, who is able and willing to save. Let the sinner plead the merit of the Blood of Christ, and know that he will be saved.

Five bleeding wounds He bears,

Received at Calvary:

They pour effectual prayers,

And ever plead for me;

"Forgive him, oh, forgive," they cry,

"Nor let the trusting sinner die."

3. There is a Man in Glory with a resurrection body. The Lord Jesus Christ was buried, and the third day He arose again. He rose bodily. In His resurrection, His body was changed, but it is still a body; a body glorified, a body of flesh and bones. Did Christ not say, "A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have"? What does this body mean to us? It means that we, too, shall live above the skies; that we shall be caught up to meet Him; that we shall be changed; that the body of our humiliation shall be made like unto the body of His glory. Thank God, for the shittim wood, which tells us that Christ was manifest in flesh.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR